'Stay tuned': Josh Heupel again stays quiet on Tennessee Football injury updates

Don’t expect any injury updates from Josh Heupel the week of SEC games. Instead, the Tennessee Football coach is going to continue to lean on the league-mandated injury report issued on Wednesdays, then updated on Thursday, Friday and during pregame on Saturday.

“Wednesday will be the first official injury report of the week,” Heupel said Monday when asked about the health of senior defensive lineman Jaxson Moi. “And then you can stay tuned from there.”

Tennessee (3-1, 0-1 SEC) goes to Mississippi State (4-0, 0-0) on Saturday for a 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville in the first true road game of the season.

Moi and fellow defensive lineman Daevin Hobbs did not play in the 56-24 win over UAB on Saturday. Also sidelined were freshmen offensive tackle David Sanders Jr., wide receiver Radarious Jackson and tight end Desaahn Brame.

“Jaxson has continued to get better,” Heupel said.

Tennessee also continues to be without cornerback Jermod McCoy, who tore his ACL during offseason training in January, and cornerback Rickey Gibson II, who is out for multiple weeks after being injured in the second quarter of the season opener. 

Daevin Hobbs suffered a foot injury late in training camp

Heupel last Monday offered optimism that both Moi and Hobbs could return sooner rather than later. 

“Moi, day to day,” Heupel said last week. “Hobbs continues to do a really good job in his rehab. So how fast that progresses here, I can’t give you an answer today. But he’s done a really good job. Hopefully, we’ll have him back soon too.”

Hobbs was injured in the preseason and has missed the first three games of the season. He has been running on hard surfaces in cleats for the last week. Moi was injured during the first series in the 45-26 win over Syracuse to open the season on August 30 in Atlanta.

Heupel announced last Wednesday that Jackson, who injured his collarbone in last week’s loss to Georgia, would miss Saturday’s game against UAB.

“He’ll be out this week,” Heupel said Wednesday during the SEC Coaches Teleconference, “and we’ll see where he is the following week.”

Jackson is expected to miss multiple weeks while Brame got banged up in practice on Wednesday.

David Sanders Jr. sidelined by ‘unique injury’

As for Sanders, Heupel went more in-depth on his situation early last week, explaining that Sanders is doing all he can to return, but it’s a “unique” injury. 

“It’s a unique injury that, you know, doctors are uncertain,” Heupel said. “That’s why he’s kind of been day to day for a while here and uncertain. It’s not like a sprained ankle. And I say that meaning there’s not a definitive timeline and so he’s been having to fight through that. Guy wants to be out there. It hurts him badly.”

Sanders has not been full speed at practice since he suffered the injury in practice on August 27.

“He’s not, I’m going to say, in control of it,” Heupel said. “Our medical staff is doing everything that they can. It’s a little bit of an unknown timeframe. He could wake up tomorrow and be ready to go. Obviously he’s had some time, some healing. We hope that happens before we get to Saturday.”